The ESRB Gets An 'F'

GamePolitics reports on a failing grade given to the ESRB by the National Institute on Media and the Family. The report card did not look good for the ratings board, which almost immediately fired back at the organization. From that article: "The reality is that publishers understand that retailers largely choose not to stock AO-rated games, and so in the interests of producing marketable games, publishers will oftentimes revise and resubmit a game that was initially assigned an AO by raters in an effort to produce an M-rated game. When this happens, the process starts again from the beginning, and each new version of a game is reviewed independently. The call to issue more AO ratings has little to do with rating accuracy, and more to do with NIMF's real agenda, which is to destroy the commercial viability of games it deems objectionable. Unlike NIMF, ESRB's job is to be a neutral rater, not a censor."

Comments

Re:Why a generic rating

[Bryansix]

The movie ratings have gone to this. Now an R-Rated film tells you exactly why it got that R Rating. Was it for gore and violence or for nudity and pervasive foul language?

Reality is that the NIMF are right-wing wackos...

[javaxman]

and when I say that I mean *extreme* right-wing wackos. They are the U.S. equivalent of the Taliban, except ( as far as we know ) they aren't heavily armed, just heavily funded.

True, normal Christians are done a great disservice by these extremists who pretend to speak for them. We should all applaud the ESRB for calling them out on their socio-political agenda.

Actually, I feel a little bad for lumping the NIMF in with a lot of right-wingers, many of whom are really *fiscal* conservatives but would prefer *less* government involvement in our lives, not more... the NIMF wants a nanny state that polices the morals of grown adults and children alike... and when they can't force the government to step in ( usually due to these annoying "rights" people insist on ), they lobby business to do it for them.

Really, culture and social values should be taugh by PARENTS, and the NIMF should find something more useful to do than trying to censor entertainment and media. Maybe feeding the hungry, if they're such good Christians.

Re:Sheesh!

[PunkOfLinux]

This really is bullshit. Did they look at any games at all? I mean, really. I've seen a FEW games this years that should have been rated higher, but not that many. But if the movie industry does the same thing, they get excused. I call bullshit.

Anyway. They probably only looked at the GTA scandal, and based their entire 'grade' off of ONE news item. Didn't bother to look at the ratings of other games.